A guide to brewing loose leaf tea

We're often asked how to make the perfect cup of loose leaf tea. Yes a lot of it will come down to personal taste but there are still some simple steps you can take to ensure your loose tea experience is a delight.

Step 1: Choose your teaJust like when you are making a tasty meal it all starts with good quality ingredients. So it's equally important to use the best quality loose tea you can find. Really high quality loose tea is typically very expensive but luckily our tea club model means we can offer the very best loose tea at an affordable monthly price.

Step 2: MeasureA teaspoon of loose tea is more than enough for your average mug; heaped if you like more flavour. Added to an infuser or cafeteria ensures you don't get any of the loose leaf caught between your teeth.

Tip: To get 80°C water just add a splash of cold water (approx 1/5th) to your leaves first.

Step 4: SteepFor green, white and oolong leave to brew for 3 minutes, black 4 minutes and everything else like fruit, herbal, chai and rooibos for as long as you like though 5-10 minutes is a good guide. Now enjoy the perfect BRUU.

Other tips -----------------------

Before you throw the leaves away don't forget that loose leaf tea can be re-infused several times.

Between brews, don’t empty your cup or pot completely. Leaving a little bit of water will strengthen the leaves for your next brew.

In China it's popular to just add the leaves to a tall glass without using a strainer so you can appreciate the colours of the leaf. Most of the leaves will sink to the bottom once steeped, those floating on the surface can just be blown away before you sip.